when I stare at myself in the mirror, I'd say that I'm pretty average looking, not great, but certainly not bad.However, when I look at myself in photos, it appears that I look much worse, my face looks longer, my eyes more smaller, and my hair all messed up.I'm thinking maybe its just the position/angle that I'm looking at myself in the mirror which makes me look better, but I dont know

I had to chuckle reading that this morning, I'm the same.I HATE having my pic took, I like to be behind the camera, tho I do get a few pics taken when drunk ( the pic im using for my avatar for one LOL)I have seen some people who are average looking, look fantastic in photos, and the opposite too............its kinda wierd!

I think generally people are unhappy with their appearance in one way or another. Personally im overcritical of some of my features from what i see in the mirror or in photos especially. If you look at your face close to the mirror its usually not good as the imperfections noone ever see are a lot more obvious for example.Thing is you loose the 3D perspective looking at photos or even in the mirror and combine that with natural critisisms about yourself and you are gonna look worse.At the end of the day noone is perfect and that lack of 3D perspective in photos especially isnt good!

what you might notice about you self and by observing others is that most people have a "mirror face" i.e the expression that they have uncontiously cultivated over the years to look best to them selves.